Sunday, December 14, 2014

Third Sunday in Advent

Third Sunday in
Advent (B)

December 14, 2014

Text: John 1:6-8, 19-28

The
true Light that enlightens everyone, Jesus Christ, comes into the world now,
since His ascension into heaven, by preaching, by proclamation, by witness, by
confession. He comes through the
Word. The Church’s task is to preach
Christ crucified for sinners (1 Cor. 1:23), and to distribute the gifts of the
risen Christ to His people. St. John’s
prophetic ministry was to prepare the world for Christ’s first coming as
Savior. Now that Jesus has accomplished
the work of our salvation, the Church takes up John’s prophetic ministry,
preparing the world for our Lord’s coming again on the Last Day to judge the
living and the dead. The preparation is
vital, for eternal life and death are on the line. When Christ comes again He will raise up all
the dead. He will give eternal life to
all who believe in Him, but He will cast all unbelievers into the everlasting
darkness of hell. So we preach. Love for the world compels us to proclaim Christ,
to confess Him, to bear witness about the Light that is Christ, for the same
reason John came to bear witness about the Light: “that all might believe” (John 1:7; ESV), and so be saved.

St.
John is our model in this. He is always
pointing to Christ, never to himself.
His is always the work of preparation.
Jesus is the fulfillment. “He who comes after me ranks before me,
because he was before me,” John confesses (John 1:15). “He
must increase, but I must decrease,” John proclaims (3:30). “John
appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance
for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4).
It was all to prepare the people for the Lord’s coming. “Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus, “is
at hand” (Matt. 3:2). The bony finger
of St. John is always extended toward his greater cousin, his lips ever
proclaiming: “Behold, the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). John is never magnifying himself. He is always confessing what He is not. “‘Who
are you?’ He confessed, and did not
deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’ … ‘Are you Elijah?’ … ‘I am not.’ …
‘Are you the Prophet?’ … ‘No’” (vv. 19-21).
John will not take any of the glory for himself. No preacher should. All glory belongs to Christ, and to Christ
alone.

And
so the Church. We preach Christ
crucified. We do not preach
ourselves. Christianity has fallen into
the shameless habit of self-promotion.
Look what a great congregation we are.
Look at how much we do. Look how
at how sincere we are in our love for God and for each other. We’re friendly. We’re relevant. We’re convenient. We’re fun.
Suddenly the mission becomes not so much preparing the world for the
coming Judgment, but saving the institution (the congregation, the Church body)
by attracting more customers. Every one
of us is prone to this thinking. We
would love to see our pews filled to capacity.
We would love a healthy bottom line.
But why? As evidence that more
people believe in Christ and have come to receive His gifts? That is, indeed, what our new man in Christ
desires. But the old sinful flesh
desires success by human standards. The
Old Adam wants his church to be the biggest and the best. So Old Adam preaches himself. Christ… the real One, from the Bible, anyway…
is a little too messy, a little too offensive.
But come to the church and we’ll
save you. We’ll make you into a better
you. Just follow our program. You’ll see the difference. You’ll be inspired. You’ll be a better husband and father, wife
and mother. Trust us. And so the Church can so easily fall into the
trap of preaching herself in place of Christ.

The Church that preaches herself is dead. The Church that preaches Christ crucified
lives in her risen Lord.

Preaching
Christ crucified is never popular. It is
never a recipe for success in the eyes of the world. But it is what the world needs,
desperately. St. John was “the voice of one crying out in the
wilderness” (v. 23). So the Church
cries out in the wilderness of this world, in this place of unbelief and
godlessness, of violence and exploitation, of selfishness and materialism. The Church cries out in a wilderness of
darkness and death. But in its
blindness, the world believes itself an oasis of light and life. Only the Light that is Jesus Christ can open
the eyes of the blind and expose the deception in which the devil holds this
generation. What is the Church to cry in
this wilderness? “Make straight the way of the Lord” (v. 23). Jesus is coming. Just as He came in the flesh, in the womb of
the Virgin Mary, just as He was born that first Christmas to be our Savior, to
suffer and die for our sins, to be raised for our justification and life, so He
is coming again. Prepare. Be prepared by God in the preaching of
Christ, by which He comes to you even now.
That is how His way is made straight.
That is how His Light shines in the darkness. That is how His Life triumphs over
death. John brought the Light by
preaching and baptizing. He was sent by
God for this very thing. The Church
brings the Light by preaching and baptizing, by witnessing and confessing, by
eating and drinking and so proclaiming the Lord’s death until He comes (1 Cor.
11:26). The Church is planted in the
world for this very thing. The world is
preserved now, in this time of grace, that Church may point to Christ crucified
and declare, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away your sin! Repent, and believe the Gospel.”

The
Church preaches Christ crucified, because the Spirit of the LORD GOD is upon us
and has anointed us in Baptism for this very thing (Is. 61:1). Even as the Spirit descended upon our Lord
Jesus and remained on Him at His Baptism in the Jordan, so He remains with us
in our Baptism into Christ. And He opens
our lips, that our mouths may declare His praise (Ps. 51:15). That by this Gospel preaching, Christ Himself
bring good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the
captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound (Is. 61:1). That by this preaching your sins be
forgiven. This is something the Church
can never accomplish by preaching herself.
But this preaching of Christ crucified frees the Church to recognize she
is not the Savior. She cannot save
anyone. She cannot save herself. She cannot even save her institutional
structure. Christ is the Savior. Christ alone saves. He saves the Church. He saves you.
The Church is called to confess with St. John what she is not. She confesses that she is not the
Christ. She does not take the glory for
herself. Nor should her preachers. All glory belongs to Christ, and to Christ
alone. He must increase. We must decrease. We baptize in the wilderness of this world
and proclaim a Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. “Repent,”
we preach, “for the kingdom of heaven,”
Jesus, “is at hand.” He is coming soon. He is coming to judge. So look to Him as Savior now. The finger of the Church is always pointing
to the cross, her lips ever proclaiming, “Behold,
the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

John
confesses that he is unworthy even to untie the strap of our Lord’s sandal (v.
27). This was a task so menial, even
slaves were excused from performing it.
John confesses himself less than a slave to his Lord Jesus. There is a certain humility here that should
mark the Christian. It is the language
of unworthiness, which is really a confession of sin. But it is not the language of despair. For while we are unworthy, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to
receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”
(Rev. 5:12). The Lamb makes us worthy
with His own worthiness. By His Blood He
has ransomed us for God, ransomed a people from every tribe and language and
people and nation, and made us a kingdom and priests to our God, who shall
reign on the earth in the Last Day (vv. 9-10).
This is the song St. John the Baptist and all the saints in heaven sing
before the throne of God. For they see
the Light with their own eyes. The Light
shines on us, too, here in the darkness.
But our eyes are not yet fully open.
We see now as in a mirror dimly.
Then we shall see fully (1 Cor. 13:12).
But we do see. We see by the eyes
of faith given in our Baptism. We see by
the preaching of Christ crucified and risen.
We see with our ears. The Lord
comes. He speaks. He feeds us.
We rejoice. And we cry out in the
wilderness of this world: “Make straight
the way of the Lord.” We bear
witness to the Light, “that all might
believe.” In the Name of the Father,
and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.